You Ask Why I Am Lonely Now

You ask why I am lonely now,
In all this brilliant scene,
And why I look on beauty’s charms,
With cold, unalter’d mien.

You say that, many a loving heart,
Would joy to be my own,
That none of all the human race,
Should ever live alone.

I’ll tell you why I’m lonely now,
If grief will let me speak,
And why I glance on woman’s charms
With cold, unalter’d cheek.

’Twas in my boyhood’s happy days,
I loved a blue-eyed maid;
The light of heaven o’er that young cheek,
In changeful feeling stray’d!

I loved her with a love as true,
As ever dwelt on earth;
Oh sure my worship was too deep,
Even at that shrine of worth.

She loved me not, that knowledge fell,
Upon me like a blight;
Ah me! I am too fondly weak?
Is this a teardrop bright?

You asked why I am lonely now,
And I the tale have told:
And I shall yet be lonely, till
The grave my heart shall hold.